Ribbon inking device



June 11, 1940. P. E. VEGA RIBBON 11mins bEvIcE- 2 Sheds-Sheet! Original Filed Ju1y 31; 1935 INVENTOR PAUL E. VEGA ATTORNEY June 11, 1940. VEGA RIBBON INKING DEVICE Original Fil ed July 51, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 will umwfl l INVENTOR PAUL E. VEGA ATTQRNEY NOE to wemknowtl Teletype page printer of which a I Asecond latch cooperates with latch 52, the 16 Patented June 11, 1940 i UNITED STATE-SPATENT OFFICE RIBBON INKING DEVICE.

Paul E. Vega, New York, N. Y., assignor to The i Associated Press, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Original application July 31, 1936, Serial No. 93,576. Divided and this application July 22, 1938, Serial No. 220,624'

1 i 6Claims. (01. 197-471 This is a division of application Serial Number after inking for a ribbon feeding cycle will auto- 93,576, filed July 31, 1936. matically disengage itself. 1 If an inking device This invention relates to an inking device for were used which would be immediately effective typewriter ribbons. when operated, in most cases the ribbon would Application Serial No. 93,576 referred to above be unevenly inked unless an attendant were on IS discloses a Multiple copy system by which a numhand to cause the device to engage just as the her of copies may be made from a single t-yperibbon reversed and to disengage it at the next writer ribbon guided between webs of paper arreversal instant; ranged in a series of layers, thus dispensing with The inking mechanism is supported by a bar in the use of carbon paper and an object of the 40. Figure 1', secured to the top of casting l of 10 present invention is the provision. of amechanism the printer by means of screws 4| which also for automatically inking ribbons adapted for use secure the front part of thetop casting to the in connection with such multiple copy systems printer frame. Bar 40 is bent downward and when applied to automatic telegraph printers. thence outward on each side of the printer frame To A further object is the provision of an inexforming a short vertical section 42, and a short pensive mechanism which may be attached to horizontal t on 3- present printers without the necessity of drilling, In the following scr ption it Will be undertapping, or in. general, requiring any kill d stood that the parts referred to are duplicated mechanical labor on present printer structures. at pp ends of the p d n So e in Other objects will appear in the followin decases the parts are formed so as to bear a right scription given with the aid of the accompanying hand left hand relationship to each other.

drawings of hi there are t t Lever 44 is pivoted by screw 45 to 43 has an Referring to the drawings; ink pot 46 rigidly secured thereto, the ink pot Figure 1 is a plan View of a printer t being provided with a cover 41 and a spout 48 Figure 2 i plan i of the 1 ft; hand inking which is cut away for a short distance from its h i end at 49 forming a support for wick 50 which Figure 3 is a plan view of the right handinking may Tide, e the devi is e d. o bbon mechan1sm l2 on the ribbon spools, as shown in. Figure 3.

Figure 4 is a front elevation of the right hand spring tellds to move level 44 and ink po to inking mechanism partly in. section, the section tuward h adlacent 1 normally being taken through 4+4 of Figure strained from doing so by latch 52, Figure 2, Figure 5 is a front elevation of the right hand pivoted on screw 33 to vertical plate 53 secured inking mechanism by screws 54' to 43. The latch is notched or out Figure 6 is a section taken through of away so as to form an upright part 55 which is Figure 3 constantly urged against the underside of lever M Figure 7 is a section taken through '|--l' of M by Spring that when the lever is reset Figure by means described below, the beveled: face 55 of l The particular modification of the present ing latch locks M in its outermosit position vention. is designed for use in connection with a Oldmg the mk wlck away from the nbbon' great many are in use. This printer is described action of the two latches being the nature of in detail in Patent No. 1,665,594 issued to H. L. an escapement Krum, April 10, 1928 and therefore only brief Latch Shaped ilke bell crank 15 plvoted by reference will be made to the printer mechanism 58 plate Spring 59 tends to press the latch per Se. against the upper surface of lever 44. When the v inking device is in its unoperated or reset posibe' gg gggg gg 3 3 to @Scnbed may tion, lever 44 is held only by the face 55 of latch ab v by means o the ag igs; x i -$2222 to 52, the face 60 of latch 51 being in the path of I lever 44 but s aced a roxm 1 The reference character I Indicates a convenaway, as i di t d iE FigLrZS Z egg; i tlonal printer top hav ng ribbon spools H] and H. manually Operated latch 52 is disengaged lever p fi s 1362 32 851 1 1 p1 1 b 44 moves a short distance until it stops a ainst l W 1o ay e rlppe face 60 of latch 51 which renders lat 2 atany time, but which will not become effective ch 5 mefiec tive, and lever 44' is restrained in an ineffective until the rlbbon starts toreverse, and which intermediate position for the time.

A pawl El is pivoted by pivot 62 to the upwardly extending arm of latch 51. Spring 63 holds the slanting face of the pawl against stop 64 formed by a bent over part of the upright arm of latch 51.

Latch 51 is controlled by the printer ribbon feed mechanism through the agency of a sliding bar extending clear across the top of the printer. The bar is guided and supported by a slot formed by plates 66 and 61 located at each end of the printer and secured by screws 68 to the vertical part 42 of bar 43. Stop pins 680 are inserted in the bar to limit its movement. Both ends of bar are bent downward and the inner surface of the depending parts are bevelled to form cam surfaces 69, each of which is adapted to engage the slanting face of the adjacent pawl 6|, while the respective noses ill on the outer surface of the bar are adapted to engage the vertical part H of the adjacent pawl depending on the direction in which bar 65 is moved.

Bar 65 carries two bell crank shaped pawls, each having an outwardly extending arm with faces 12 and T3. The pawls are pivoted on screws M to bar 65. Springs tend to hold arms 16 against stops ll in bar 65.

Bar 85 may be moved in either direction, depending on which ribbon spool is winding up, by pins 18 which in the present embodiment project downward from the underside of the ribbon spool and engage either of the pawls. Obviously a disc or bar, or other suitable arrangement could be attached to the ribbon spool spindles, or other convenient part of the winding mechanism to carry pins 18 or other suitable tripping means inplace of the arrangement shown in the present embodiment.

Referring to Figure 2 where the left hand ribbon spool is represented as turning counterclockwise and unwinding the ribbon, pawl face 12 is shown in position to be engagedby pins l8. As the ribbon spool turns, repeated contacts of pins It with face it of the pawl mere- 1y rotate the latter on its pivot away from stop T! to which it is immediately restored by spring "l5. However, when the ribbon reverses, the ribbon spool will turn in a clockwise direction and now face 13 of the pawl will be engaged by a pin it, and since the pawl is held against rotation in this case by its pivot It and stop H, the continued rotation of the spool will force bar 65 to the left of the position shown in Figure 2, tripping latch 5?. The corresponding mechanism for the right hand side of the printer shown in Figure 3 now has changed so that the pawl face 12 is in pos1- tion to be engaged by pins 18 until the spool is unwound, and then when the right hand spool reverses and starts to rewind, pin 18 engages face E3 of the pawl, which cannot rotate on its pivot in this direction, and bar 55 is moved toward the right, tripping latch 51, and if latch 52 had been previously operated, then the respective parts of the mechanism would occupy the position shown in Figures 3 and 4. v

The inking mechanism is reset by toggle mechanism mounted on levers 44 which consists of a U-shaped lever 30 pivoted on stud 8| secured at the end of lever 44.

Spring 82 tends to hold against eccentric stop screw 83 which may be adjusted according to the length of the ribbon on the spools. At the.

end of the upper arm of lever 89 is a bifurcated lever 85 having arms 85 and 81, the lever being supported by pivot screw 34. The opposite end of the lever, adjacent to the pivot, is bent downward forming a stop 88 which is held in engagement with the side of lever 80 by spring 89.

Operation The device operates as follows: Assume that the printer is operating, and both inking devices are in their normal position out of contact with the. ribbon on the respective ribbon spools: If it be desired to put both inking devices into operation, the ends of both latches 52 are manually and when a spool is empty, the ribbon reverse mechanism becomes effective to cause the ribbon feed mechanism to engage with the empty spool reversing its direction and causing it to wind up ribbon, while the driving mechanism is simultaneously disengaged from the full spool.

At the beginning of each ribbon reverse cycle, just as the empty spool begins its reverse motion, one of the pawls carried by bar 65 is positioned in respectto the empty spool as the pawl shown in Figure 2, the bar having been moved to this position by the previous winding up of the other spool. It should be noted that for the entire time a spool is unwinding that the arm of the pawl is in the path of pins '18 which during the course of the unwinding operation engage the face 18 repeatedly tripping the pawl away from its stop 7, without having any other efiect on the mechanism.

When the spool reverses on the start of the winding operation, a pin 18 engages face 13 of the pawl which is restrained from rotation in this direction by pin 17 in bar 65, and as the spool continues to rotate, bar 65 is moved longitudinally and the nose 1!! at the end thereof engages the vertical face H of pawl 5! which is restrained from rotation in this direction by stop 64, causing latch 5i to turn on its pivot 58 against the tension of spring 59 releasing lever 44 which, under the influence of spring 5| moves toward the ribbon spool and causes the wick 50 to contact with ribbon 12 on the spool.

In the meantime the opposite spool is unwinding and its pins it are tripping harmlessly against the pawl face 12.

When the spool being inked has wound up to the limit, the ribbon again reverses and the sec,- ond inking device is brought into contact with the ribbon in the manner just described.

At the start of the inking operation, toggle lever 35 was brought by the movement of lever 44 into the path of pins 18 underneath the ribbon spool where it was harmlessly tripped on its pivot 85 each time it was engaged by one of these pins.

With this condition, however, on the reversal of the full spool, the recess at the end of lever 85 formed by arms 85 and 8! is entered by a pin it with the result that with the continued rotation of the spool, due to the stops 88 of levers 85 which pivots both levers about Bl until lever 44 is rotated backward sufiiciently for it to be engaged and retained by stop 55 on latch 52.

As the rotation of the spool continues, the notched end of lever 85 is carried for some distance around with the spool until pin 78 becomes Bar 65 is free to move in either direction according to each ribbon reversal. At each reciprocation of bar 65, a cam face 69 engages the slanting face of a pawl 5i, and during the course of movement of the bar, the pawl is merely tripped away from its stop 64. At the same time, at the opposite side of the printer, the face H of a pawl 6| is engaged by the nose H1 at the end of bar 65 i which trips latch 5i inelfectively at eachribbon to engage and ink the ribbonon the respective spools, a pair of latches associated with each of said arms for retaining the receptacles and wicks out of contact with the ribbon, a first latch of each pair being manually operable to release the arm, associated therewith, the second of said latches being adapted to retain said arm after its release by the first latch, and a member controlled by said ribbon feed mechanism adapted to trip the second latch of each pair alternately after each ribbon reversal.

2. In a typewriting machine having a ribbon and a ribbon feed mechanism, means for inking said ribbon comprising a pair of ink receptacles each provided with a wick, an arm for supporting a receptacle pivoted adjacent to each ribbon spool, springs tending to move the arms so as to cause the wicks to engage and ink the ribbon of the adjacent spool, a pair of latches associated with each of said arms for retaining the receptacles and wicks out of contact with the ribbon, a first latch of each pair being manually operable to release the arm associated therewith, the second latch of each pair being adapted to retain said arm after its release by the first latch in position to disable the first latch, and means controlled by the ribbon feed mechanism common to both of the second latches for releasing said arm from the second latch when the ribbon reverses.

3. In a device of the character described, a

typewriting device provided with a ribbon reed mechanism including ribbon spools and ribbon reverse mechanism, an inking device for said ribbon comprising an ink saturated fabric arranged cooperate with said member to move said device out of contact with said ribbon against the action of the spring means into the latched position after a predetermined interval.

4. In a typewriting machine having a ribbon, a pair of ribbon spools therefor, and an automatic ribbon feed mechanism, automatic means for inking said ribbon for its entire usable length comprising a pair of ink receptacles, each being provided with a wick, a pivoted arm for supporting a receptacle adjacent to each ribbon spool, springs tending to move the respective arms so as to cause the wick to engage the ribbon on the adjacent spool, a latch associated with each arm to retain the receptacles in an inefiective position with the respective wicks out of contact with the ribbon, a member common to both latches actuated by the ribbon feed mechanism for tripping them alternately and invariably at predetermined parts of the ribbon feed cycle, and manually operated latch means for retaining each arm independently of the first mentioned latches.

5. In a typewriting device having a ribbon, automatic ribbon feed mechanism and a ribbon inking device, the combination of a pivoted bar for supporting said inking device, resilient means tending to bring said device into contact with said ribbon, a latch for holding said bar with said inking device out of contact with said ribbon, automatic means for disengaging said inking device and said ribbon comprising a rotary member, a jointed arm provided with a notched end pivoted to said bar, spring means tending to hold the edge of said arm in the path of said rotary member when the inking device is in contact with said ribbonthereby causing said arm to turn on its pivot each time it is engaged by said rotary member as the latter turns in one direction, said rotary member when turning in the opposite direction being adapted to enter the notch in said arm and with its continued rotation force the arm and bar back behind said latch and thereafter withdraw from the notch, and spring means for withdrawing said arm out of the path of said rotary member on the disengaging of the latter from said notch.

6. In a typewriting device having a ribbon, automatic ribbon feed mechanism and a ribbon inking device, the combination of a pivoted bar for supporting said inking device, resilient means tending to bring said device into contact with said ribbon,, a latch for holding said bar with the inking device out of contact with said ribbon, automatic means for disengaging said inking device and said ribbon comprising a rotary member, a jointed arm provided with a notched end pivoted to said bar, spring means tending to hold the edge of said arm in the path of said rotary member when the inking device is in contact with said ribbon causing said arm to be moved on its pivot as it is engaged by the rotary member as it turns in one direction, said rotary member being adapted when turning in the opposite direction to enter said notch and force the arm and bar back sufiiciently far, againstthe pressure of said resilient means, for the latch to engage and retain said bar.

PAUL E. VEGA. 

